One Deadly Summer

Eliane moves to a small town in southern France and forces everyone to look at her through her behaviour. She marries Fiorimondo, a mechanic. What nobody knows is that she is running a plan: she is looking for the three men who raped her mother years ago and believes she has found them. Jean Becker directed, from the novel and screenplay by Sebastien Japrisot. Isabelle Adjani plays Eliane, Alain Souchon her husband. The film is told in many voices: the same events are repeated from different characters and the viewer assembles the information in pieces. Adjani was named best actress at the Cesars for the role and the film won four awards that year. Its hard edge is that her memory is unreliable and the revenge may be aimed at the wrong people. Town gossip, sexual violence and silence form the ground of the story. Who it is for: viewers who like French thrillers and Adjani. Who it is not for: anyone wary of how the rape material is handled; the film addresses it directly.